"Huh?! Nijimura-senpai! What are you doing?!"
Shogo Haizaki clutched his head, wincing in pain.
Shuzo Nijimura clapped his hands lightly.
"Get up. We're leaving."
Shogo Haizaki stood up, confused, but still followed the others out of the arena.
Over on Tōō's side.
Daiki Aomine stood up with his hands in his pockets, his expression indifferent as he walked toward the exit.
Kosuke Wakamatsu asked, puzzled:
"Aomine, where are you going?"
Without turning back, Daiki Aomine replied calmly:
"To warm up."
...
On the court.
Shutoku's side.
After the players came off the court, Masaaki Nakatani smiled.
"Good job, everyone. In the final quarter, if we shut down that 'invisible man,' this game is ours."
"You can all see him now, right?"
Taisuke Otsubo took a sip of water and answered seriously:
"We can."
The others nodded firmly as well.
Masaaki Nakatani's smile widened.
"Good! Let's finish this in one push!"
"Yes!!!"
On the other side, Rakuzan High School.
Eiji Shirogane was still arranging tactics, and the final scorer was still set to be one of the three: Reo Mibuchi, Chihiro Mayuzumi, or Kotaro Hayama.
They… still hadn't realized anything was wrong.
"Beep! Fourth quarter begins! Both teams, take the court!"
Both sides stood up and walked onto the court.
This quarter would decide the winner.
The game resumed.
Shutoku ball.
Right from the start, Rakuzan pressed full court.
But Shutoku had already prepared for this.
Shintaro Midorima jumped straight up from where he stood, and Kazunari Takao immediately passed the ball.
Midorima caught it mid-air, landed, gathered, and rose again into his shot.
Swish!
Three-pointer good!!!
87–90.
Possession changed.
Rakuzan ball.
This time, Shutoku didn't press. Instead, they set up their defense in their own half.
As Rakuzan's point guard brought the ball across midcourt, Shutoku immediately locked in.
Shintaro Midorima picked up Reo Mibuchi.
Kiyoshi Miyaji and Shinsuke Kimura quickly double-teamed Kotaro Hayama.
Kazunari Takao stepped up to pressure the point guard.
Taisuke Otsubo slowly tracked Chihiro Mayuzumi.
Eikichi Nebuya was left completely open.
There was no choice. In this situation, going for two points wasn't an option.
Rakuzan's point guard understood that.
He kept dribbling carefully, making sure Kazunari Takao couldn't steal the ball.
Chihiro Mayuzumi activated [Misdirection] again and ran out beyond the three-point line.
Taisuke Otsubo noticed—but didn't move. He only chased after Mayuzumi once he had already run out.
Seeing the opening, the point guard immediately passed.
Mayuzumi caught the ball and went straight into his shot.
At that moment, Reo Mibuchi's face twisted in alarm.
"Don't!!!"
Too late.
Taisuke Otsubo exploded forward, leaping with everything he had.
His expression was rock-solid, as if he were about to roar.
He had been waiting for this moment for a long time.
No—this entire team had.
Ever since the third quarter, Shintaro Midorima had been setting this up, deliberately allowing Chihiro Mayuzumi to score.
Because the moment a shadow tries to act like light…
…it stops being a shadow.
Midorima's plan was to turn the shadow into light—and then, at the exact moment when no one, not even the shadow himself, realized it…
strike with a fatal blow.
To make this happen, Shintaro Midorima had carried the team on his back.
He allowed Mayuzumi space while keeping the score even through his own shooting.
Taisuke Otsubo roared:
"We've done all this… for this moment! How could I let all our effort go to waste!!!"
"Aaaaaah!!!"
With a furious shout, he swatted the ball out of Chihiro Mayuzumi's hands.
"Fast break!!!"
Chihiro Mayuzumi's eyes shook violently, his mouth hanging open in disbelief.
Rakuzan panicked.
Some looked shaken, others ferocious.
They all sprinted back on defense.
But in panic…
people forget the most important thing.
Just as Kazunari Takao was about to cross midcourt, he suddenly tossed the ball backward.
Kotaro Hayama, who had rushed up to him, froze—then turned in shock.
Behind him, Shintaro Midorima had already appeared—and was already in the air.
He caught Takao's pass mid-air and, in one motion, launched a half-court three.
At that moment, every Rakuzan player felt their hearts drop as they stared at the ball.
Reo Mibuchi's pupils trembled uncontrollably.
On the sidelines, Eiji Shirogane shot to his feet, stunned.
Swish!!!
The ball dropped cleanly through the net.
Three-pointer good!
87–93.
The entire arena erupted.
"Shutoku! Shutoku!! Shutoku!!!"
"Beautiful! What a shot!"
The crowd burst into applause, cheering wildly for the incredible play.
Rakuzan's players stood frozen.
Chihiro Mayuzumi's eyes lost focus as he muttered:
"Impossible… impossible… how…?"
He slowly raised his head, a hint of madness in his expression.
"How could you see me?!!!"
Taisuke Otsubo wiped the sweat from his face with his jersey, calm as ever.
"Oh, that? We could already see you—since the end of the third quarter."
"We were just waiting for the right moment."
Chihiro Mayuzumi staggered back a few steps, unable to believe it.
His voice trembled.
"Can you tell me… why?"
Taisuke Otsubo loosened his grip on his jersey.
"I don't really know how to explain it. But in Midorima's words…"
His gaze sharpened.
"When a shadow tries to stand in the spotlight, it stops being a shadow!"
Chihiro Mayuzumi felt as if struck by lightning, murmuring to himself:
"A shadow… trying… the spotlight…"
Shintaro Midorima had been watching him the whole time.
Now that Mayuzumi had begun to doubt himself, Midorima looked away.
"That's the difference between you and Kuroko. A difference in resolve."
Then he raised his head, gazing upward at a forty-five-degree angle, and murmured:
"Akashi… your method was wrong after all…"
...
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